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Introduction:
It is necessary under the law that two persons must affirm, or become
witness to the fact that executant and nobody else, has written or signed
the deed of transfer. This act of giving evidence of becoming witness is
called attestation and when these persons have done so, the deed is said
to have been attested. The witnesses are called the attesting witnesses.
Object of Attestation
* It confirms that executant and none else has executed the document
* It also confirms that the executant have executed the document with free
consent and there was no force, fraud, or undue influence.
Meaning of Attestation:
As per the definition as has been mentioned in the Wharton Law Lexicon
the following is the meaning of Attestation:
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The meaning of attestation as has been given by Justice C.K. Thakar in,’
The Law Lexicon” with the references made to the various case laws are as
follows:
The Criminal Procedure Act, 1865, section 7 (applicable both to civil and
criminal cases), renders it unnecessary to prove by the attesting witness
any instrument to the validity of which attestation is not requisite, and such
instrument may now be proved by admission, or otherwise, as if there had
been no attesting witness.
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the executant sign or affix his mark to the instrument or has seen some
other person sign the instrument in the presence and by the direction of the
executant, or has received from the executant personal acknowledgement
of his signature or mark, or of the signature of such other person and each
of whom has signed the instrument in the presence of the executant; but it
shall not be necessary that more than one of such witnesses shall have
been present at the same time and no particular form of attestation shall be
necessary.”
As held in the case of Shamu Patter vs. Abdul Kadir, the requirement of
attestation to a document was stated by the Privy Council in this case to be
that,
‘the barriers against perjury and fraud’ ; to use the language of the master
of the rolls in Ellis vs. Smith, ‘should not be removed upon speculative
considerations.”
Role of Attestation
“A decision under the bills of sale, 1878, constructing section 8 and section
10 of the Bills of Sale Act, it was laid down by the court that,’ the common
sense of mankind has always rejected the notion that the execution of
every bill of sale should be attested by a solicitor of the Supreme Court.
The grantee in that case under the Bill of sale was a solicitor and the
signature of the grantor was attested by the grantee and the point for
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consideration was whether the bill could be treated as having been validly
attested. It was held that the solicitor was a grantee, under the bill and
could not be a valid attesting witness as he was a party to the document,
though not the executant.’ ”
“ The presence of some person, who stand by but not a part to the
transaction. The view which I take seems to be confined by the
circumstances that attestation is unnecessary, unless it is required by an
instrument creating a power or by some statute. “
As held in Freshfield vs. Reed, (1842), it follows from that case that “the
party to an instrument cannot attest it.”as considered in some of the
decisions of the Indian Courts such as in the case of Durga Din vs. Suraj
Bakhan:
Here before a full bench of the Lucknow High Court the question of a valid
attestation of a mortgage executed benami but attested by a person who
actually advanced money was raised. It was held that though the person
who actually advanced the money was interested in the transaction as he is
to get the ultimate benefit of the mortgage, he was not a party to the
document and therefore the principle that a party to a document cannot be
a valid attesting witness did not apply. A benamidar, it is pointed out, was
the legal mortgagee and he was the person who was in the legal sense a
party to a deed. Merely because a person is interested in a
document/transaction, he is not on that ground disentitled to be a valid
attesting witness.’
The next term which comes to mind while defining attestation, is the term
attest.
‘To attest is to bear witness to a fact. Briefly put, the essential conditions of
a valid attestation under Section 3 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882,
are:
* Two or more witnesses have seen the executant sign the instrument or
have received from a personal acknowledgement of his signature from him.
* With a view to attest or to bear witness to this fact, each of them has
signed the instrument in the presence of the executant.
It is essential that the witness should have put his signature ‘ amino
atestandi’ , that is for the purpose of attesting that he has seen the
executant sign or has received from a personal acknowledgement of his
signature, and that the signature has been given with the intention of being
the signing as under the capacity of an attesting witness
* A person who though he is present and sees the execution, does not sign
in the capacity of an attesting witness, although his name is on the
document.
Any person who is competent to contract, can also attest. Any two persons
who are of the age of majority and possess sound mind, can attest as
attesting witnesses. Since attestation is a special act of certifying the
signature of the executant, any other person, e.g.. The scribe or the typist
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cannot be presumed to have attested the document. However a scribe or
writer or typist may perform dual role also. In that case scribe shall put his
signature/name mentioning especially that he is also attesting the
document. A person who has been called simply to identify the executant
and who has not seen the executant signing the document , cannot be
treated as an attesting witness.
A person who has seen a party execute a document or sign a written deed,
he then subscribes his signature or the purpose of identification and proof
at any future period.
What is attesting
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Section 68 of the Evidence Act, 1872 deals with the proof of the execution
of documents required by law to be attested. It provides that such
documents shall not be used as evidence until at least one attesting
witness has been called to prove the execution, if there be an attesting
witness alive and subject to the process of the court and capable of giving
evidence.
The Transfer of Property Act does not prescribe any formality for
attestation. Signature of the attesting witness is sufficient. Signature need
not be at any particular place in the deed. Attesting witness may sign
anywhere on the deed/ document by putting their signatures(when literate)
and their thumb impressions(when illiterate). It is also not necessary that
both the attesting witnesses should sign the deed simultaneously. Even
when the attesting witnesses sign and attest the deed separately, it
remains to be valid.